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Baltimore IMC

LOCAL Announcement :: Elections & Legislation

Calling All Potential Lobby Moms!

Are you a stay-at-home parent or retired grandparent who wants to make a real difference?
The Lobby Moms Project is a group of stay-at-home parents (dads welcome, too!) who rotate child-care and lobbying duties.

Right now, The Lobby Moms Project is in an experimental stage. The idea grew out of the false notion that only retired citizens have time or are willing to lobby, advocate or testify at legislative hearings, both at the state and federal level. The Lobby Moms Project knows that there are educated, engaged, willing volunteer parents out there, who lack only the access to child-care needed to do so!

The idea is to have a core group of at least 4 parents, two of whom can watch the children at a Lobby Mom's house and two of whom can head to the state capitol (in this case, Annapolis) and, god-willing, Washington, DC as well. The more Moms in the group, the better, which will allow greatly flexibility in terms of scheduling. This way, there can be boots on the ground every week, advocating for important issues. We believe it is possible to make a difference and have fun doing it!

Right now The Maryland Lobby Moms are in need of at least two additional parents to fill out the core group, and we always welcome fill-ins and alternates.

Lobby Moms groups operate under a set of guidelines (outlined on the website) and are issue-based. For instance, the Lobby Moms in Maryland currently want to advocate for campaign finance reform and against corporate influence in politics, so they will do just that. If another group in Maryland wants to start another Maryland Lobby Moms chapter and advocate for healthcare reform, they are welcome to do so, but the Lobby Moms interested in campaign finance reform do not have to participate in the healthcare lobby if they don't want to. We know parenting is a full-time job in itself, so traveling all the way to meetings and hearings on issues that don't quite resonate with you is not mandated.

For now, The Lobby Moms Project is the brainchild of Jessica Sharp, co-director of Fair and Clean Elections Maryland, but for this idea she is a strong advocate of cloning. Interested in becoming a Maryland Lobby Mom or starting your own chapter, even nationwide? Contact Jessica at fairandcleanmd-AT-gmail.com.

Check out our Events Calendar for get-togethers and training sessions.
 
 
 

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